Selling a car with problems: what to disclose
A car with a known fault still sells, to somebody who knew about it before making the trip. What the rules make you say is short, and most of it sits on the title. The rest is what a careful buyer will find anyway, so the work is to say it first, in writing, with a price that already allows for it.
Find out what is wrong
A diagnosis, the title, a recall check
Say it in the listing
In plain words, with a photograph
Price it with the fault in
Before anybody asks for money off
Write it into the agreement
The faults you named, signed by both
Why it matters
What a careful buyer will find out anyway.
A buyer who checks the title, a history report and the car itself learns most of its problems before paying, and the only question left is who said it first.
Texas’s motor vehicle agency tells buyers that when they buy a used vehicle in Texas, the state gives no warranty or consumer protection on its reliability, whether the seller is a dealer or an individual, so the checking is theirs to do. Its list: run a title check on the VIN through the national title database, have a trusted mechanic look the car over before signing anything or paying any money, including a down payment, and get a vehicle history report for accident repairs and maintenance.
The FTC’s advice to used car buyers fills in the rest. A history report may list accidents and flood damage, but it typically will not list mechanical problems, which is why the FTC recommends an inspection by an independent mechanic and a written report with a cost estimate for all necessary repairs. A buyer who goes ahead after reading that report can use the estimate to negotiate the price.
With a careful buyer, then, the fault comes out either way. Said first, by you, it is a fact the buyer accepted before driving over. Found by their mechanic, it arrives with an estimate attached and a reason to reopen the price.
The rules
What the rules ask a seller to say.
Only a few disclosures are set by a rule, and most of them concern what the title already carries.
The mileage
Federal rules make the seller state the mileage in writing when ownership changes, on the title for most cars. If you know the reading is wrong, because the odometer was replaced or stopped working for a while, the statement to choose is that it is not the actual mileage. What goes in that section of the title is on the odometer disclosure statement page.
A salvage history
California’s DMV says sellers, dealers included, are legally required to disclose a vehicle’s salvage title and history, and adds that the rule is hard to enforce, especially when a car comes from another state. How a branded car is sold is in selling a car with a salvage or rebuilt title.
The brand on the title
A brand stays on the title and passes to the buyer with it, so it is disclosed whether you mention it or not. California’s DMV says brands are given to vehicles with high mileage, significant damage or chronic problems, and that the wording varies from state to state.
Everything else
The FTC’s Used Car Rule, with its Buyers Guide saying whether a car is sold as is, covers dealers who sell more than five used vehicles in twelve months, not somebody selling their own. Whether an as-is sale works, and how, is decided by state law, and the FTC sends questions about it to the state attorney general’s office. For any other fault, what your state expects of a private seller is a question for that office, not for this page.
On the title
The brands Texas and California use.
A brand is the state's own note on a car's history. Here are two states' lists, read on the agencies' own sites.
Texas
TxDMV’s list of title brands includes salvage; rebuilt, for a salvage car that has passed anti-theft and safety inspections; junk; water damage, for a car damaged only by flood water; manufacturer buyback or warranty return, for a car returned under warranty or bought back under laws such as lemon laws; and an odometer brand, which records the reading as the true mileage or not. A title history report from the national title database shows whether a car was ever with a junk or salvage yard or declared a total loss by an insurer.
Read on txdmv.gov on 15 October 2026.
California
California prints the brand in a red box headed Vehicle History, near the upper right corner of the title. Its brands include salvaged, after an accident or considerable damage from another source such as a flood or vandalism; prior taxi and prior police, for cars formerly for hire or used by law enforcement, which the DMV says usually have high mileage; lemon law buyback, for a car returned to the manufacturer under California’s Lemon Law; and remanufactured.
Read on dmv.ca.gov on 15 October 2026.
For any other state, the agency that issued your title sets its brands and the words for them: USA.gov lists the motor vehicle agency for every state. Describe the car with the exact word printed on your title, because that is the word the buyer will read on the paperwork.
Recalls
Checking the car for an open recall.
A recall is a safety defect the manufacturer has to put right for free, and the VIN shows in a minute whether yours is still waiting for the repair.
NHTSA’s recall search takes a VIN or a license plate and lists any unrepaired safety recall on that car; a car with none shows 0 unrepaired recalls associated with this VIN. It does not show recalls already repaired, some recently announced recalls whose VINs are still being added, recalls more than 15 years old unless the manufacturer covers them longer, or recalls by small manufacturers.
Manufacturers are required to remedy a recalled defect, by repairing or replacing the part, offering a refund or, in rare cases, buying the car back, and NHTSA tells owners to contact their local dealership to have the recalled part fixed for free.
If your car has an open recall, the simplest course is to have it repaired before you list it and keep the paperwork. If that cannot happen before the sale, say so in the listing. The buyer can run the same search on the same VIN.
Common problems
Describing the usual kinds of fault.
Each has a plain way to say it, and in each the useful words are what happens and what is known.
A warning light
Say which light, since when, and what a diagnosis found. If nobody has read the code, say that rather than guessing. An unknown warning light is priced as the most expensive thing it could be, and a diagnosis costs less than that difference, as how to prepare a car for sale explains.
The engine or the transmission
Describe what the car does and when: a hesitation shifting from first to second, a noise on a cold start, a leak that leaves a spot overnight. If a shop has looked at it, give the diagnosis and the estimate. If the car does not run at all, how to sell a car that does not run covers who buys it.
Past damage
An accident that was repaired, what was replaced and who did the work, with the receipts if you have them. If the car was ever in a flood, say so: TxDMV tells buyers to look for rust under the carpet, dried mud under the dashboard and a musty smell in the upholstery or the trunk. A flood you mentioned is a fact. One they find is a reason to doubt the rest.
In writing
Where each fault is written down.
Three places, from the listing to the signature, with the same words in all of them.
In the listing. Near the top, in your own words, with a photograph of anything a camera can show. The list of what is wrong is the paragraph that decides whether the person who drives over has already accepted it, as how to write a car listing explains. On a WheelSheet page, put it in your notes, and leave No accidents unticked if the car has been in one.
In the agreement. When there is time between the deal and the handover, the private car sale agreement has a place for every fault you have told the buyer about. A fault written there is part of the deal you both signed, and the price already reflects it.
On the bill of sale. The bill of sale records the price, the date and the mileage, and, ticked by default, that the car is sold as is. How far as is reaches is decided by your state’s law, and it does not take back anything you said about the car in your listing or in messages.
Keep a copy of the listing as it stood on the day of the sale, and the messages in which a fault was discussed. Together they are the record of what the buyer was told.
The price
Pricing a car with a known fault.
A discount set before the listing goes up is a number you chose. One worked out at the car is a number somebody else chose.
Get the estimate yourself. The FTC tells buyers to ask their mechanic for a written cost estimate and to use it to negotiate, so a repair figure ends up on the table either way. If it is yours, from a shop you picked, you know it before anybody calls and can price the car around it.
Then compare with cars like yours as they really are. The method in how to price a used car still works, with the repair taken into account rather than left out. A buyer who sees the fault named and the price already adjusted has less to argue about, and the conversation in how to negotiate when you sell a car privately gets shorter.
Fix the cheap faults and disclose the expensive ones. The exception is anything that stops the car being driven, because a car that cannot be test driven or registered sells to a much smaller group of buyers.
Read next
The rest of the sale, with the faults on paper.
Once the problems are named and priced, the sale works the way it does for any car.
The whole process, in order: how to sell a car privately.
More in special situations- Selling a car you still owe money on
The lender holds the title, so the payoff has to happen inside the sale rather than after it. How that works, what to ask for in writing, and the safest place to do it.
- How to sell a leased car
You cannot sell a car you do not own, so a lease sale is really a buyout followed by a sale. How the numbers work, and why your lender may not allow it.
- How to sell a car that does not run
A car that will not start still has three kinds of buyer and a real price. What to find out first, what to disclose, and how the handover works without a test drive.
Frequently asked questions
Do I have to disclose problems when selling a car privately?
Some things are set by rules: the mileage statement on the title under federal law, including saying when the reading is not the actual mileage, and in California a salvage title and history, which the DMV says sellers are legally required to disclose. A brand on the title goes to the buyer with it anyway. For other faults it is a question of your state's law, and the FTC sends questions about as-is sales to the state attorney general's office.
Can I sell a car as is with known problems?
Yes, and the as-is line on a bill of sale records that the buyer takes the car as it stands. It does not take back anything you said about the car in your listing or in messages, and how far it reaches is decided by your state's law. Write the known problems down as well, in the listing and in the sale agreement.
What if I do not know what is wrong with the car?
Say that, rather than offering a theory. A diagnosis from a shop or a mobile mechanic turns an unknown fault into a named one with a repair estimate, and that is the number a buyer's own mechanic would otherwise hand them.
How do I check if my car has an open recall?
Enter the VIN on NHTSA's recall search. It lists any unrepaired safety recall on the car, and NHTSA tells owners to contact their local dealership to have a recalled part fixed for free. Have it done before the sale if you can, and say so in the listing if you cannot.
Will a vehicle history report show the problems?
Some of them. The FTC says a history report may list accidents and flood damage but typically not mechanical problems, and a title history from the national title database shows brands and whether the car was declared a total loss. The mechanical side is what a buyer's mechanic finds, and what your listing should already say.
Name the faults before anybody makes the trip.
One page with the car, the price and what is wrong with it, in your own words, sent to whoever asks. 10 days free.